Think voting is for chumps? You might be interested in this system some states are trying out

Elections in almost all states in our country come down to primaries, where the candidate who actually makes it onto the final ticket is chosen by a small percentage of people.

In fact, in some states, you actually have to register for a specific party in order to vote in the primaries for given candidates.

In other words, if you want to vote in the primaries for Party X, you have to be registered as a Party Xer. Even if you don't agree with them.

That big yellow block of voters in the middle of the graphic above? Those are independent voters, which — per October 2015 Gallup Poll results — make up close to 42% of Americans. They often don't even get to participate in the primary, unless they register as one of the other parties. Ahem.

What happens then is that elections become more competitive, and legislators have to work across party lines.

This way, it sounds like the American people win, doesn't it?

If you want to find out more, there's a growing movement to change this in every state and the national elections as well. The two-minute video below from Open Primaries gets into that, and it seems really appealing. Check it out: